Consular Affairs Enterprise Infrastructure Operations (CAEIO)

Solicitation No. SAQMMA17R0177Procurement Type: Sources Sought/Request for InformationDate Posted:Title:Consular Affairs Enterprise Infrastructure Operations (CAEO)Classification Code: R- Professional, administrative, and management support servicesDescription:The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice/RFI is to accomplish market research pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR ) Part 10 and to determine the availability and capability of qualified small businesses capability of performing the functions described herein.Another purpose of the Sources Sought Notice/RFI is to help the US Department of State understand the industry best practices and technical solutions capable of providing the full range of requirements described in this RFI. The Department of State will use this market research information to assess the market's capability to successfully meet the supply request.The Government is requesting information regarding information technology services for the US

Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs Systems Technology. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a commitment on the part of the Government to conduct a solicitation for the attached/below listed services in the future. The Government reserves the right to determine how it should proceed as a result of this notice. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for information submitted nor will not individually be notified of the results of any government assessments in response to this Sources Sought, nor will it compensate respondents for any cost incurred in the development/furnishing of a response. The Government will not entertain telephone calls or questions for this Sources Sought. Please note that a decision not to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice; will not preclude a vendor from participating in any future action.Background and Statement of NeedThe primary mission of CA is to protect and assist U.S. citizens abroad, to issue passports to U.S. Citizens, and to issue immigrant and non-immigrant visas to foreign nationals according to the laws of the U.S. Government. To achieve this mission, CA actively pursues business, technology, and management goals and objectives.CA/CST is tasked with providing CA's mission critical information technology (IT) resources necessary to support various CA locations including approximately 230 overseas posts, 29 domestic Passport agencies, 2 domestic Visa processing centers, and an array of information, book / card print, passport centers, DoS annexes, and contractor sites. CA/CST supports approximately 10000 worldwide clients including 1200 CA customers at locations in the Washington DC National Capitol Region (NCR).The Service Operations (SO) Division (CA/CST/SO) within CST engineers and operates production hosting environments and operates CA/CST's production services.Scope of Work/Required CapabilitiesThe objective of this requirement is to acquire services to manage the infrastructure on which CA Systems run, providing systems engineering, installation services, monitoring for availability, performance and capacity, systems administration/operations, and support for CA/CST managed applications and services. CST has is requiring in order to provide operational IT services in both data centers and decentralized environments both domestic and overseas. This is comprised of data center management, enterprise operations network monitoring, systems administration, telecommunications operations, hardware (HW) support, and Government off-the shelf (GOTS) and commercial off-the shelf (COTS) software (SW) application support to CA. To accomplish this objective, CA/CST requires services necessary to engineer, build, enhance, maintain, and operate CA's unclassified and classified IT infrastructures.Attached in this Synopsis is the Consular Affairs Enterprise Infrastructure Operations (CAEIO) Performance Work Statement.QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTSIt is mandatory that the Contractor is required to establish, deliver, and manage services of the infrastructure on which CA Systems run, providing systems engineering, installation services, monitoring for availability, performance and capacity, systems administration/operations, and support for CA/CST managed applications and services for the Department of State (DOS) shall be apprised for CMMI@ for Development (CMMI-DEV@ ) or CMMI@ for Services (CMMI-SVC@), Level 3 compliance. Their employees shall contain a rapid provisioning of highly experienced to include certifications for MCSE(s), CISSP(s), MCDA, CCNP, ITILv3 Foundation(s), and Project Management Professionals (PMPs) with the IT backgrounds and a facility clearance at the TOP SECRET level is required of CA's environment of Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) infrastructures. A system of internal controls to manage (control, use, preserve, protect, repair, and maintain) Government property in its possession is needed. A system shall be adequate to satisfy the requirements of FAR 52.245-1.The NAICS code for these services is NAICS 541511 (Custom Computer Programming Services)RESPONSE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONSIf your organization would like to participate, you must respond to this announcement by e-mailing Darlene Watson, Contracting Officer your information regarding your services, management and transition approach, technical approach and competencies, and past performance for same or similar activity with commercial activities or government agencies, and responsiveness to this SSS. Please reference the following in the subject line of all submissions: Consular Affairs enterprise Infrastructure Operations (CAEIO). Your e-mail must be received no later than March 15, 2017 by 4:00 p.m. EST to ensure a timely response. NO TELEPHONE CALLS WILL BE ACCEPTED.All questions may be submitted by sending an e-mail to Darlene Watson, Contracting Officer no later than March 6, 2017 by 10:00 a.m. EST. No questions received after that date will be answered unless the Government determines the answer to the question imparts information material to Industry's ability to respond to the SSS. All questions, if any, will be compiled into one document by DoS, and answers will be posed for all companies responding to this SSS. All questions and answers will be made available on FedBizOpps within seven (7) days before the due date of this SSS response.INSTRUCTIONS FOR SSS RESPONSESRespondents must submit Capability Statement in responses, using not more than 25 pages in length. The total page count of 25 pages does not include the cover letter. The total page count does include all other information provided (i.e., graphs, technical, etc.). Font size should be 12 point, Times New Roman, single sided and prepared in Microsoft Word. Fold out charts for tables or graphics are allowed with a limited size of 11"x17" and each foldout count as a single page and also counts toward the total page limit. Charts and graphics must be in Microsoft Excel, or PDF format.The Request for Information (RFI) shall be under a separate coverThe format for the SSS responses is described below:The cover page shall contain (1) Company name, (2) Primary Point of Contact, (3) Phone Number and Email Address, (4) Cage Code, (5) NAICS Code and (6) Socioeconomic Classification 8(a) HUBZONE, Service Disabled Veteran, etc... (7) Current GSA or GWAC contracts that are applicable to NAICS 541512 - Computer Systems Design Services, (8) Facility Security Level Clearance and (9) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) maturity level.Capabilities Statements must contain:• Ability to meet PWS requirements.• Recent/relevant experience, capabilities, contracts, and customer information as you deem appropriate. For past performance cited, include a POC at the Government Agency or business at which work was performed.• Responses shall also include resumes for Key Personnel exclusive of the above page count (identified in Section 7.2 of the Performance Work Statement) and shall be limited to (2) pages each.Questions shall be prepared in the following format:Date: ______________________From: (Name, Company, and Phone Number of Respondent)To: xxx, Contracting Officer at: email@state.govSubject: Questions regarding DoS SSS # (xxx)Questions:1.2.3.REQUEST FOR INFORMATIONThe Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Consular Systems Technology is requesting responses from industry in order to refine procurement strategies and to gather input from industry regarding best practices in performing the services for a data center management, enterprise operations network monitoring, systems administration, telecommunications operations, hardware (HW) support, and Government off-the shelf (GOTS) and commercial off-the shelf (COTS) software (SW) application support to CA. To accomplish this objective, CA/CST requires services necessary to engineer, build, enhance, maintain, and operate CA's unclassified and classified IT infrastructures.To do so, the Government welcomes responses to the following questions:• What additional information would your company find most helpful in order to develop and submit a technical and price proposal for this requirement for a best value award?• What contract type would your firm routinely consider in the performance of this requirement? Can you suggest any possible incentives?• What is the best contract type for the Government to meet the goals of the Performance Work Statement?• Any other solutions that might help the Government refine the Performance Work Statement and/or RFP?• What information, not provided, does your company expect to need in order to support the requirement?• What is the minimum dollar value for a project which your firm would routinely consider submitting for a similar requirement?• Could you suggest other specific and pertinent information as it pertains to this service?Contact Information: Darlene Watson, Consular Affairs Enterprise Infrastructure Operations (CAEIO), Phone 7038754864, Email watsond1@state.gov - Vincent J Sanchez, Contracting Officer, Phone 703-875-6629, Email SanchezVJ@state.gov Office Address :1735 N. Lynn St. Arlington VA 22209 Location: Acquisition Management Set Aside: N/A